“Laborpaste” attempts to create a secondary landscape in Historic
Pullman by employing images of iconic labor leaders positioned in and around the
National Monument.

The “cutouts” perform both figuratively (by removing the leaders from their historical
timelines and contexts), and literally (by cutting the figures out of the original
image backgrounds and applying them to the present using a traditional wheatpaste
process. Careful consideration to site selection and positioning give the historical figures
a life-size presence as “citizens” of the community.

Purposely devoid of any accompanying text, the temporary installation is not meant to
be instructional or serve as a history lesson. The project relies on chance, imagination
and the curiosity of the viewer for meaning.

The long tradition of “wheatpasting" is by nature public and temporary. The installations
will slowly fade away over time blending with their substrates. The decay is an important element of the project. Site selection is of course
sensitive to historic preservation and nothing is attached to 1880’s historic
surfaces.

Documentation of this project is partially supported by an Individual Artist Program Grant from the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs & Special Events, as well as a grant from the Illinois Arts Council Agency, a state agency through federal funds provided by the National Endowment for the Arts.